Care Quality Services Shrewsbury

Updated 14 March 2020

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection Team

The Inspection was carried out by two inspectors and follow up calls were carried out by an assistant inspector.

Service and service type:

Allied Health-Services is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats. The service did not have a registered manager registered with the Care Quality Commission and at the time of the visit had an acting manager pending the recruitment of a new manager.

Notice of inspection:

The inspection was announced 48 hours before the visit. This was because we needed to be sure that the provider or manager would be in the office to support the inspection. We also needed to obtain people’s consent to contact them.

Inspection activity started on 07/01/20 and ended on 31/01/20. We visited the office location on 09/01/20

What we did:

We reviewed information we had received about the service. We sought feedback from the local authority, professionals who work with the service and Healthwatch. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. The provider was not requested to complete a provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection, we spoke with the acting manager, area manager, chief executive, a trainer and 4 carers.

Following the inspection, we spoke with two people that use the service and three relatives that have family members using the service.

We reviewed a range of records about people's care and how the service was managed. This included looking at five people's care records and a sample of people's medicines administration records. We reviewed records of meetings, staff rotas and staff training records. We also reviewed the records of accidents, incidents, complaints and quality assurance audits the management team had completed.

Updated 14 March 2020

About the service:

Allied Health-Services Shrewsbury is a domiciliary agency providing support to 84 customers in their own homes.

Peoples experience of using the service:

People were not always cared for by staff in a way that kept them safe and protected them from avoidable harm. Staffing levels had resulted in missed or late calls. Risks were assessed; however, some risk assessments required more information on the risks and control measures.

The service was not always well led. At the time of inspection there was not a registered manager at the service. Systems in place for quality monitoring were not effective.

People received their medicines when they needed them, and systems were in place to ensure that medicines were administered safely. Accidents and Incidents were investigated, and measures were taken to prevent re-occurrences. Staff knew and followed infection control principles.

People using the service and their relatives were positive about the service and the care provided. A relative told us, “The carers know the dad and what he wants and how he wants it, he likes them, he is very happy with the service.” A person using the service told us, " I am very happy with the service."

The service was effective. Peoples needs were assessed and planned and delivered in accordance with legislation and best practise, some care plans did not contain information about health needs although this information was held. Staff were well trained and knowledgeable about the needs of the people they supported. People were supported to have choice and control over their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way. People were supported to have choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests, the policies and systems in the service supported this practise.

People were cared for by staff who were kind and caring. People were involved in making decisions about their care and were supported to maintain their independence.

There were systems to ensure care was responsive. People received care in accordance with their needs and preferences. People were supported to maintain contact with their friends and families.. People had plans relating to end of life care decisions where required.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Rating at last inspection:

The service was registered with us on 18/01/19 and this was their first inspection.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection.

Enforcement

We have identified breaches in good governance during this inspection

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our reinspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.